Pan Berkshire LSCB Sub Groups

The Pan-Berkshire Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCB) Sub-groups is the collaboration of six LSCBs joining together on a wider multi-agency platform to work in partnership. This allows for sharing of good practice and development of safeguarding opportunities towards improving outcomes for all children and young people across the Berkshire area.

Pan-Berkshire sub-groups are made up of the following Berkshire Local Safeguarding Children Boards:

Bracknell

Slough

Reading

West Berkshire

Windsor & Maidenhead

Wokingham

The Pan-Berkshire LSCB group has the following sub groups: Section 11, Policy and Procedures and Child Death Overview Panel.

Pan-Berkshire Section-11 sub-group

Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places a duty on key people and bodies to make arrangements to ensure that their functions are discharged with regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Each LSCB has a duty to ensure the effectiveness of safeguarding activities within their area, with a particular focus on ensuring that those organisations providing services to their populations are fulfilling their statutory responsibilities.

The role of the sub-group is to:

Set clear expectations with the Pan-Berkshire LSCBs and host organisations about the timeframe and process for submission of a self assessment section 11 audit.

Review and evaluate S 11 returns of the full three yearly audit of s11 Children Act 2004 in order to make an assessment of agencies compliance with the duty to safeguard.

Contribute to the Section 11 LSCB’s annual report and to feed back to each LSCB on the ‘effectiveness’ of safeguarding arrangements, and identify any associated recommendations to the Pan Berkshire LSCBs including identifying emerging themes across agencies that relate to safeguarding effectiveness.

The Policy and Procedures (P&P) coordinates the development of new local policies, procedures and guidance for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in Berkshire. In addition the group analyses the implications of national multi-agency policies, procedures, guidance or research findings in terms of the need to develop any additional local policy, procedures or guidance. The P&P Sub group is the lead on the Pan-Berkshire Child Protection Procedures.

The key purpose of this sub group is to:

Manages Berkshire Child Protection Procedures (online service)

Monitors changes in legislation and guidance

Considers recommendations from local and national Learning Case Reviews

Since 1 April 2008, it has been mandatory for all Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCB) to ensure that a review of the death of any child or young person, who normally resides in their LSCB area, is undertaken by a multi-agency Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) as set out in Chapter 5 of Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2015 (PDF 1.6MB). This remit applies to expected or unexpected child deaths (less than 18 years old) even if these children die abroad or in another LSCB area. Exemptions are stillborn babies and lawfully planned terminations.

There are two interrelated processes for reviewing child deaths (either of which can trigger a serious case review):

The Child Death Overview Panel which will review the deaths of all children (under 18 years) in the local safeguarding children board (LSCB) area(s). This panel is made up from representatives from key local organisations,

The Rapid Response process, (RRP) is a group of key professionals who come together for the purpose of enquiring into, and evaluating, the unexpected death of a child. Professionals involved in this process provide initial support to the family and help to inform the subsequent CDOP review process.